Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine needed a song for a critical scene in the 1944 movie musical, Meet Me in St. Louis. It had to be just right. It was a sad scene but the producers wanted the tune to have a hopeful quality to it. The idea was to have Judy Garland, the actress who would sing it, to be “smiling through her tears”.
For several days Martin played around with a little tune he had in his head. Try as he might he couldn’t make it work. After a few days he threw it in the trash can. Blaine had heard the tune and liked it. Thankfully, they were able to find it in the trash can. Once they pulled it out, they set to work on finishing the tune and adding lyrics.
As the story goes, when Judy Garland first reviewed the song she asked for a re-write. She said, “This is too sad! Everyone will be crying their eyes out.”
So Martin and Blaine tinkered with the lyrics and what they ended up with became a holiday classic.
That song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, was a smash hit and went on to become one of the most beloved holiday songs of all time. It has been recorded by numerous artists, from Bing Crosby and Robert Goulet, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to James Taylor, Garth Brooks, Kelly Clarkson and Coldplay.
I can hear them singing:
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on
Our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yule-tide gay
From now on
Our troubles will be miles away
Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now
I love that song. I’ve heard it countless times and tear up every time I hear it.
I hope you have a merry little Christmas. I hope your heart is light and your troubles seem miles away. I hope you are surrounded by faithful friends. I hope your family is able to gather near to you this Christmas.
Thankfully, the hospitality, good will and love which Christmas brings has not yet been defeated by time or the evil one. It returns each year — fresh and new.
But this spirit wasn’t meant for one week a year or one day. Nor should it be limited to one month on the calendar. This spirit of hospitality, love and good will must be ours all year long.
In his work, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens tells of the transformation of the greatest grinch ever — Ebenezer Scrooge. He is confronted one Christmas Eve with the consequences of his stinginess and greed and lack of care for his fellow man. It is not until he is made to realize his own sad fate that his heart is changed. However, once it does — the change is dramatic!
Scrooge declares,
"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
That sounds like good advice! And it sounds like the best way for us to keep the spirit of Christmas with us all year long.
There’s no reason that the giving and hospitality and love and warmth we experience this time of year shouldn’t outlive the holidays.
In fact, it is God’s will for us.
Acts 20:35 — “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
1 Timothy 6:17-19 — “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”
As the heart of Scrooge was finally melted once he learned of his fate, let us remember ours:
“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)
Have yourself a merry little Christmas. And let us all strive to keep Christmas in our hearts all year long.